How to Determine if a Cloud Service is Safe Enough for Your Business

Posted:
5 years, 9 months
ago

This spring, I attended the American Bar Association technology conference in Chicago. The conference was held for attorneys and firm managers in order to gain knowledge of new technologies and learn the state of technology within the legal industry.

One of the big discussion areas that could be found throughout the conference was cloud services. The legal world is still in many ways trying to get its head around cloud services, and whether they, as an industry, can trust cloud services. I would say that on the whole, most law firms have come to terms with cloud services and are, in one form or another, using these services within their business. With that in mind, I approached the Chief Technology Officer of a 900 lawyer firm with this question, "How do you determine if a cloud service is safe enough for your business?"

His answer?

There is no sure fire simple way of making that decision, and that in reality, it is a two part question. One is, does this service provide the proper security to ensure data integrity, in a purely technical standpoint? The second question is, does the terms of service meet our needs from a liability and legal standpoint?

It was up to him, as the IT expert to answer the first question. Then it was up to the in house legal department to review the second. Assuming both questions were answered adequately, then the service was a viable option.

If you are considering cloud services for your business, then it is important to include both your attorney, and your IT guy into the decision. Neither can answer both questions, but both provide valuable insight to coming to a sound decision for your business.